Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I appreciate the Minister of State's comments on taking further advice and his sympathy for my case. He mentioned trivial and minor matters. Therein lies the problem. In many cases, an enforcement officer with an excessive workload defines something as a trivial or minor matter in his or her report to the complainant, but no further explanation is given. This does not help the person living next door who has a difficulty with the matter in question and to whom it is not trivial.

There is no appeals mechanism. Most aspects of planning include an appeals mechanism, but the power afforded an enforcement officer in this instance cannot be appealed. If the office claims something is trivial, that is the end of the matter.